University of Idaho Announces Debut of Leonard Feather Collection

The University of Idaho’s International Jazz Collections in Moscow, Idaho has completed digitization of the audio portion of the Leonard Feather collection of jazz memorabilia. Last year, the GRAMMY Foundation® gave the university a $36,000 grant to preserve and digitize the late Feather’s historically significant audio tapes and recordings.

Feather (pictured), a renowned jazz critic, composer, pianist, journalist and producer, frequented the university’s Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival for a number of years prior to his death in 1994. His collection was given to the university to complement the donated collection of Hampton.

In addition to numerous audio files, which contain interviews and many rarely or never before publicly heard performances by jazz pioneers, Feather’s collection includes scrapbooks dating from 1933 to 1994, his personal library and music collections, and many autographed photos of jazz greats. Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Henry Mancini, the King Cole Trio, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie and Joni Mitchell are among the hundreds of artists included in Feather’s collection.

In addition to its entertainment value for jazz connoisseurs, the jazz artifacts in Feather’s collection serve as research materials. Many of the items that are in digital format are available online at www.ijc.uidaho.edu/Exhibits/exhibit2/vexmain2.htm or in the reading room of the University of Idaho library. Feather’s collection was appraised shortly after it was turned over to the university, and has an estimated value in excess of $500,000.

The International Jazz Collections will be open to the public during the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival from Feb. 20-23, 2008. For more information about the IJC, visit University of Idaho or call (208) 885-7951.

Originally Published December 13, 2007